What is your zone of genius? A lot of us reside in a working world hanging out in either a zone of competence or a zone of excellence. This may sound like a positive, but hanging out in a zone of competence or even excellence is why we have over 70% of employees disengaged. How do you know what/where your zone of genius resides? Easy. It is whatever gives you the highest ratio of satisfaction and target income and makes you feel wonderful doing it, knowing you are really great at it. It is earning a living doing something you really love, not just something you are good at. A zone of genius feeds you, not just because of ego-driven “I’m good at this”, but because you are good at it, and you find it deeply satisfying, which cycles into additional positive energy further feeding your pursuits.
Urgent vs. Important
It is true, many of us work and/or live in environments that are fueled by doing what is ‘urgent’. The question is, who defines what is urgent? It is important to occasionally take a step back and review your own mission, goals, etc. and determine if your daily actions and activities are leading you towards your definition of positive outcomes and success, that which is important. Or, are you trapped in someone else’s cycle of urgency?
“A Stalled Revolution”
The following is from and interesting article on women in the workplace. The full article can be found here. “In recent years, however, the percentage of women in top management positions and on corporate boards has stalled: As recently as 2011, their presence in top management positions in S&P 1500 companies was less than 9 percent. Although there has been a slow but steady increase, progress for women is uneven; while 19 percent of S&P 500 board directors are women, only 15 percent of directors of S&P mid-cap companies are women, compared to 12.6 percent of directors of S&P small-cap companies. Overall, just 15.8 percent of directors of S&P 1500 companies are women. Companies with female CEOs tend to have more female directors; however, as of October, 2014, there were only 67 female CEOs in the S&P 1500.”
Set Your Goal, Listen To Yourself
This TEDx video from the TEDxWomen event I organized has one of my favorite thoughts within it…Marcia, who swam the English Channel, notes when people discourage a goal, call it crazy, etc., it equates to “leveling the field” – the notion that if they can’t do what you are aiming for, then you can’t either. View Marcia’s TEDxWinnetkaWomen talk.
Action + Accountability Trumps Ongoing Mind Numbing Discussion
Think. Discuss. Act. Be Accountable. That is all you need to succeed. There is a direct correlation at a point in ongoing discussions showing reduced productivity and positive outcome. Early collaboration and action has a cost benefit.
How To Be Professional
How to be professional… Workplaces can be full of all types of thinking, both good and bad. The challenge with over 75% of the national workforce being unhappy at their current jobs comes when you see how that spirals out throughout the workplace dynamic/culture. So how do you protect yourself and remain professional in a world that has a large percentage of disengaged workers? I suggest two things. One, if you do not hold the target, the arrow will be less likely to come your way. That is to say, your integrity is what you have going into and leaving a job, guard it and don’t open yourself up to the engagement of counter-productive activity. Two, focus on facts and quality within your workplace, and the specifics of your job. Don’t get distracted. Facts and quality are solid. Regardless of workplace politics facts and quality are two items that will support your integrity day in and day out. The bottom line here is people on average don’t enjoy a negative atmosphere, but do often participate in it. So note to self, you can’t change what you feed.
Are You A Gardner Or A Flower?
“If you only show up when you want something, we’ll catch on.” Source: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2011/06/the-professionals-platform.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+typepad%2Fsethsmainblog+%28Seth%27s+Blog%29 Doesn’t matter if it is at work or at home, there are gardeners and there are flowers. Flowers type people are the people who can be described by the quote above quite often. Flowers can often seem pretty but they can be exhausting. They can be energy drains. Even if you have the patience of Buddha at some point you will want to choke them. Gardeners often feel ‘duty’ to the flowers, but here is the thing… You are depriving a flower type person when you constantly tend to their needs. They will never feel the need to empower themselves if you are their source of life/growth/success. Not to mention it is not a terribly good feeling when you start to wince when you see them coming. Re-frame any thought you have that it would be unkind not to carry them along and/or let them ride in the wagon while you pull. Instead know that you are empowering them to go out and get their own wagon.
Accepting Help vs Expecting Others To Do It For You
My biggest, fattest most overwhelming challenge is my ability to ask for and/or accept help. I know this and I am working on being more open and letting the blessings flow not just out of me, but back to me as well. Having said that it does bring to light that we all need help on occasion. And asking for help is a brave and lovely thing to do as it allows others to give and feel glorious doing it. Not to mention it feels outstanding to feel the support of others. The converse to this scenario however is expecting help, in which I mean having others do for you what you should be doing for yourself to grow. Looking for and getting others to do your work is many things. It is convenient, easy, saves time, etc. What it is not however is helpful or empowering. Every time we face a challenge or hurdle there is opportunity for growth and empowerment. It is all to easy to spend more time trying to parse out, or excuse away, what you do not ‘feel’ like doing or want to do then it would have taken to just do it. It boils down to this, if you have the capability to do something new, and you know in your head and/or heart it is your responsibility to do so, do it. If you do not have the capability, ask for help, and then be open and grateful in receiving it.
Performance or Potential
Whether you are a CEO, middle manager, leader, coach, friend, spouse or whatever are you focusing on people’s performance or their potential? So often because we are results driven we have the propensity to focus on past performance. Focusing on performance makes us feel safe and in control, stable. But focusing on performance will not bring employee or relationship development to the table. Growth means focusing on potential. Potential allows for self and mutual empowerment and growth. Performance leads to keeping people in a small box. What can be challenging for many of us (anyone over 35 especially) is we were raised in a world by those who groomed us based on their past experience of living in a stable environment. Those stable environment days are gone. They are gone for good, never to return. All this is to say, so is focusing on solely on performance.